Shock absorber



Patented Nov., i8, i924.

irai

JAA-MES B; HERB-"Y, 0F GLEVEILANJD; OHIO.-

SHOCH.. ABSGEBER.

Application tied; ll-prit 7,

To all Lo/1.0m t m ale/y` concern Be it kno-Wn that L, JAMES B. KIBBY, acitizen of, the United States, residing at Clevelandy in the countyCuyahoga and State oli Ohio, have invented: a; certain. new and usefulImprovement in- Shock Absorbers, oii which the following is a nll,Aclear, and exact description,v reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings p 'llhiis invention relatesV to that class of. deviceemployedqiior restraining the excessive ly violent movements of vehiclesprings, especially those ot automobiles, thereby ren.- dering themoyeinent of the vehicle body more comfortable and decreasing the dangerof; breaking the springs. rllhese devices have received the somewhatinaccurate but Well understood name of; shock absorbers.

The main object of the invention.` is the provision of a device off thischaracter wherein the restrain-.ing movement shall dev pend: only uponthe transmission of a shock or tor thebody olii the vehicle and Whereinthe amount of restraint shall be proportional to the violencewof thatshock or jar. Other objects of the invention are the pro vision of adevice ot this character which shall be extremely simple, compact,` offevv parts and easily attached. tothe machine.; theY piiofvision. o ashock absorber which shalil, oiier the same. character of action at alltimes regardless. of theinitial Weight carried' by the vehicle,I which.shall beI totally inactive at all. times excepting when, the bodyitself. shall; have received jolts oit a predetermined. degree ofmagnitude; While further objectsr and advantagesyv of the* inventionwill become apparent as the de scription proceeds. v

It is of thef utmost` importance that the free movement of the axlerelatively toA the body be impeded as little as possible in order thatthevehiclel Wheels may follow accurately the contour of the road. Anycon:- struc on. whiclr prevents this. clearly accelerates tire. weerand.. decreases the eective performante ot the engine; thus, for 151e7 atrictional deviceivhicli operates to resist the elevation of the axlenecessitates that at each bump; in the road. the engine shall dounnecessary Work in compressing the, tire and also in elevating the.vehicle body against such resistance before the Wheel. can passthe.same; While any opposiv tion to the irsefalling movementoffthle axlealways tends to prevent the tire from le20; sei-iat no. 371,739.

dropping into holloivs in the roadway or from; retaining to thesurfaceafter having been elevated, with the result that thel engine.-will momentarily speed; up that Wheel beyond the velocity oi? the carwith consequent serious injury to the tire Win-:nI Vit ti.- nalfly dropsback into contact with; the paved surtace. The essencel oi my inventioncon.- sists in basing the operation of myV shock absorber entirely uponthek absolute: movenient of the vehicle body in spiaceregardless o-f anyrelativeI movements which. may occur between they body and Wheels;l andthis .I do by meansA ot the principle of inertia, providing for thepurpose a mass. flexibly supportedi relatively to` the body insuch Wisethativhen the body becomes.. displaced relatj-.vely to that mass, avretarding fOIQe is produced Whose. direction, and magnitude depend` uponthe direction and magnitude ot such body movement.

In. the dra-Wings. accompanying and forming a part of this. applicationI have shown a`- preferred embodiment: of my invention together with;its mode of application toa frame and axle part of an automobile,although it,y will be understood that a. great many changes cani` bemade in the details of construction andthat the device is. equallyapplicable to both, the axles otv an; automobile. In these drawings Fig;l is a perspec tive view, of my improved'shock absorber show-ing onemode of attach-ment; Fig. 2 is ay vertical sectional View ot the same;Fig, 3 is horizontal' sectional view correspond ing tothe lin-e 3,-3 of-Fig. 2; F ig. l is a sectional vievv. corresponding tov the line ofFig,` 2; and Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view' of the rearwardinterior part ot' a slightly modi-tiedy form of shock abserbe-r..

Describing. by reference characters the parts shonnin these drawingsy l'represents a hollow metal: casing havin-g suitable attaching ears; andremovable top 3, the rearward facey of the casing` being made fiat tofacilitate its attaclilnielrto a suitable part of' the automobile; bodySuch as the spring hanger 4, Journaled transversely of tlie u pfper partof thiscasing is a horiz nt al rock shaftv 5 carrying, an arm 6 Whoseouter end is connected-to the axle? which carries said hanger i throughthe instrumentality of the usual spring, 8'., In Fig. l, this" arm.isconnected' tothe Y'axle by means, of a rigid link 9 l'iaving. ball.1.0"-10 et its' ends ggg y 1,515,863

completed by a vertical partition 17 whichr extends from the cylinderwall to the opposite wall ofthe casing. The upper end of i saidpartition merges with a horizontal partition 18 which extends laterallyin the opposite direction from said well, thus defining a closed chamberwhich communicates freely with theV cylinder interior by means of anopen port 19. Mounted inthe cylinder is the reciprocable piston 2Oconnected by the piston rod 21 to one end of the operating arm 22 whoseopposite end is rigidly connected to the rock shaft 5.

Communication is effected between the w' well and chamber bymeans of avalve operated by an inertia-weight, and while a great many differentdevices can be employed vfor the purpose the simplest which I have yetconceived, both in practice and for purposes of illustration, is asfollows: the forward wall of the casing is formed with a thickened boss25 and the rearward wall is provided with a movable screw plug 26'saidboss and plug having recesses in their opposed faces in which arepivoted the ends of a horizontal shaft 27 which passes freely through ahole 28 in the wall 17. Carried by this shaft is a fiat circular disc BOto which is attached the laterally extending arm 31 whose free end isthickened or otherwise weighted as shown at 32. Secured to this arm is asensitive spring 33 here shown as a helical spring whose upper end issuitably attached to the casing interior and whose strength is justsufficient to hold the arm horizontally when the parts are at rest. Thedisc 30 is also formed with suitable apertures 35 which register withother apertures 36 formed in the partition 17 when this horizontalposition exists.

With this construction it will be seen that so long as the vehicle bodyhas no upward or downward movement more rapid than a. predeterminedminimum speed, the ports 36 will remain open and the piston 2O canreciprocate substantiallyY without opposition; but upon any suddenupward movement A of the frame the tendency of the weight 32 will be tolag behind, thereby closing the ports 36 to a greater or less extentvdepending upon the-violence of the blow and thereby restraining,` theupward movement of the body relatively to the axle. Likewise upon asudden downward movement of the body the weight 32 will tend to be leftbehind, similarly closing the ports 36 and restraining the downwardmovement of the body although the limit of this is only the atmosphericpressure, which with the ordinary size of piston and length of leverarms will amount only to about 2OV pounds force at the point 10.

In case it be not desired to utilize the downward retardation feature,the arrangement shown in Fig. 5 may be adopted, a. stra-p 12 heiligsubstituted for the rod 9.

In this case it is necessary to employ a V spring to draw the pistonupwardly and maintain the strap 12 tight, and for this Vpurpose I havehere shown a coil spring l.l-O

surrounding the shaft 5. Also in order to permit the free action of thisspring it is desirable to prevent any retardation of the pistons upwardmovement such as would be caused by a movement of the weight 32 upwardlypast horizontal, for which purpose I preferably form the casing with arigid stop 41 at the point shown.

It will be understood that many changes in shape, design and arrangementof parts can be made within the scope of my invention and that I do notrestrict myself to the arrangements herein shown except as the same arespecifically recited in the claims hereto annexed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, in combination, afluid-Containing icasing adapted to be attached to one part of anautomobile and having therein a well and a cylinder, a plunger in saidcylinder and operativelywonnected to a relatively movable part of theautomobile, means establishing communication between said cylinder andwell, and means for restricting the flow of fluid through suchcommunicating means by an amount which varies directly with theacceleration of vertical movement of said body.

2. In a device of the character described, in combination, a fluidcontaining casing adapted to be attached to one part of an automobileand having therein a well aud n. cylinder, a plunger in said cylinderand operatively connected to a relatively movable part of theautomobile, valve means establishiug communication between said cylinderand well, a vertically movable weight, a sensitive spring supportingsaid weight, and connections between said weight and said valve meansadapted to maintain said valve open while said weight is in normalposition and to close said valve means by an amount proportional to thedisplacement of said weight from normal position.

3, In a device of the character described,

lill

in combination, a fluid-containing casing having a chamber, a well and acylinder therein, means for attaching said casing to the body of avehicle, a plunger in said cylinder, means for operatively connectingsaid plunger to one of the axles of said automobile in such wise thatthe plunger `will be moved into or out of said cylinder upon relativevertical movement of said body and axle, a vertically movable mass insaid well, a sensitive spring normally supporting said mass, the wall ofsaid chamber having a port therein which communicates with the interiorof said well,y and a valve member op- Y eratively connected to said massand cooperating with said port to close the same when the said mass isdisplaced from its normal position.

il. A shock absorber for vehicles comprising a hollow casing adapted tobe attached to the vehicle body and having therein an upright cylinderopen at its upper end and spaced from the top of the casing, saidcylinder being also spaced from the end wall 3 and from one side wall ofsaid casing, an upright web connecting the wall of said cylinder withthe end wall of the casing and defining a well and a chamber, saidchamber being closed at its upper end by a horizontal web and having atits lower end a port which communicates with the cylinder interior, a h(rizontal rock-shaft traversing said first web intermediate of itsheight, a valve disc carried by said rock-shaft, a weighted armprojecting laterally from said disc, a sensitive spring supporting saidarm, said disc and web being formed with ports which register when saidarm is in normal position, a piston in said cylinder and means wherebysaid pist-on may be operatively connected to the axle of the vehicle.

5. In a device ol the character described in `combination a chamberedpart and a plunger part therein, one of said parts adapted to beattached to the body of a vehicle and the other to the axle of saidvehicle, so that said parts will reciprocate relatively to each otherupon relative vertical movement of said body and axle, a verticallymovable weight, a sensitive spring attached to a part of said body andsupporting said weight, one of said parts having a port whichcommunicates with the chamber interior, and a valve member operativelyconnected to said weight and cooperating with said port to close thesame when the said weight is displaced from its normal position.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature.

J .AMES B. KIRB Y.

